I am planning to purchase a new laptop for home. I asked a software question in another thread. In this thread, some hardware questions.

I have no real need for high power processing (no video editing, 3D graphics, or elaborate gaming), and no interest in a touch screen. However, I do want the capacity for photo editing and full featured Office applications. My investigations are focused on rather basic computers, but not bottom of the line.

My specific question is about the processor. One model has an AMD A12-9700P 7th generation processor, and the other an Intel i3-7100U. I was told the AMD runs hotter, but the information I have found shows that for these particular models the top temperature is 90°C and 100°C respectively. That is, if anything the top temperature is lower for the AMD. However, as mentioned my typical usage is not likely to use a lot of the processor capacity, so this may be a non-issue in any case.

In my experience the comment regarding temperature is accurate. My AMDs ran quite hot, so much so I would never work with it on my lap. That said, with a cooling pad, or even natural convection (raising the battery end up slightly) it worked beautifully!

Thanks, Daniel! I have looked around for other comments on the subject. Nothing definitive, but I think it is better than it used to be. However, there seems to be a lot of the Ford vs. GM type of emotion on the subject, so objectivity is a little hard to pin down. I don't think the heat will be much of an issue for me, but I'll investigate a little more. I like the feel of the Lenovo computer with the AMD better than the Dell with the i3, but not enough to offset any significant performance difference or usability limitations.

I had seen the second link, but had not come across the first one. Extra information is helpful!

When I was on the market not too long ago, that's the conclusion I came to as well. Unless you're into some really high-end stuff, I don't think it truly has much of an impact at the end of the day. Look for specials and when you see one you like, jump on it.

Don't forget you can always return it. I had bought an HP a while back and returned it after setting it up because I found out the biometric was incompatible with MS Access! I had no issue returning it (after a very thorough HD wipe!), and then bought the other PC I had been hemming and hawing about.

I do note that the AMD is a 4 core CPU, and the i3 is only a two core model. So if you care about a few more “real” cores, then the AMD does appear to have more cores. The i3 reports 4 cores, but two are due to hyper-threading. So the i3 really has about 3 cores compared to 4 real cores.

I don’t follow hardware like I used to. It really depends on what clock speed the two processors are set at. Some of the i3 can drop down into some really “low” power modes.

So more than max temp rating, the total watt rating likely would be a more useful metric then max heat for comparison. They both seem to rate at 15 watts - about the same.

Unless one has a “preference” like those endless Ford vs Chevy forums, then likely go with what laptop you “like” in terms of feel, keyboard etc.

I have a personal preference for the “I” line of Intel processors – one reason why I would not entertain “any” processor line below the “i3-5” line was hardware “virtualising” support - and hardware features (did not want any surprises).

It looks like the AMD seems to have some edge in power here, but since that’s not a big deal, then it down to “how” you feel about the laptop such as screen size, keyboard feel etc.